👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – Unicorns in public

Egyptian fintech unicorn MNT-Halan has taken a major step toward a public listing after the Egyptian Exchange approved a temporary listing of 1.6 billion shares in MNT Tech Holding for Financial Investments, the holding company for the group’s Egyptian business. The shares are slated to trade under the ticker "HALN.CA." The temporary approval gives the company six months to complete an initial public offering and meet remaining listing requirements, a deadline the regulator can extend.

"HALN.CA."

The temporary listing applies only to the Egyptian unit; the parent company, which has subsidiaries in Pakistan, Turkey and the UAE, will remain private. MNT-Halan has raised significant capital in recent years — a $400 million round in 2023 pushed it to unicorn status, and Forbes estimated total funding at roughly $550 million — and has used securitisation and other instruments to scale operations. The company has disbursed over $15.5 billion in loans, serves more than 8 million users, and reported $300 million in revenue as of 2022.

Details and context

• MNT-Halan’s Egyptian business could be valued between $900 million and $1 billion if the IPO proceeds on the terms discussed in June, while the wider fintech was valued at $1.4 billion in a June funding round led by Al Ahly Capital, the investment arm of the National Bank of Egypt.
• The company has engaged Citigroup and EFG Hermes for the potential transaction and has begun investor outreach.
• Investors who own at least 10% at listing will be required to retain 51% of their stake for at least two financial years, a lock-up measure that could shape investor participation.

The temporary listing is a sign of momentum but not a done deal: the firm must still finalize the offering and clear regulatory conditions before shares become available to public investors. If MNT-Halan completes the IPO, it would mark one of the most closely watched startup listings on the Egyptian Exchange in recent years and provide a high-profile exit path for backers that include Chimera Investments, Lorax and development finance institutions such as the International Finance Corporation.

Parallel developments in the region

• In Kenya, the High Court has ruled the government’s sale of a 15% stake in Safaricom to Vodacom unconstitutional, ordering the stake returned to the state. The R35 billion (about $2.1 billion) transaction last year gave Vodacom a reported 55% stake; the ruling could leave Vodacom with its prior 40% holding if it stands. Vodacom said it will appeal the decision and seek to pause the order while the case proceeds.
• In South Africa, the police service’s plan to deploy AI-enabled bodycams that match faces against databases has drawn scrutiny from the Information Regulator, which warned some processes could violate the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). The State IT Agency published a tender on September 10 for a three-year contract covering body-worn cameras, vehicle dashboard cameras and management software; SAPS had already planned to distribute 100 devices in its 2024/25 upgrade.

What’s next for MNT-Halan is a straightforward regulatory and market process: complete the offering, satisfy listing requirements and convert the temporary approval into a full public float. If successful, the IPO will provide a bellwether for regional fintech exits and investor appetite for large-scale Egyptian tech companies.